Civil Liberties And Rights

Civil Liberties and Rights We live in time when many people in Western countries began to think that protection of their civil rights could not be considered as their existential priority, especially after events of 9/11. By doing this, they commit transgression against the metaphysical essence of democracy, as socio-political system, which enabled cultural and scientific progress, up until now. Homo sapiens is a social being, which implies that it can only realize its full potential, while being an integral part of society. At the same time, society cannot exist without the willingness of its members to subject themselves to certain rules and regulation, for insuring social stability. However, if such willingness is being brought to the extreme, it inevitably results in creation of dictatorship, when social stability is maintained at the expense of depriving citizens of their right to have its own political opinions. When this happens, the societys further development becomes impossible, because cultural, social and technological progress come as result of free exchange of ideas. This is why it is so important to make sure that citizens are not just being aware of their civil rights, but are also ready to defend them, when government tries to take these freedoms away.

The most essential civil freedoms are: freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech. However, it is wrong to talk about these freedoms as something given. Every citizen need to understand that, in order to enjoy his civil rights, he must believe that it is impossible for him to exist, without being able to exercise them as the most natural thing in the world. History teaches us that very often; serving people is not always the priority for the elected officials. The more power is being concentrated in the hands of bureaucrats, the more they are susceptible to corruption. If this happens, it is up to ordinary citizens to defend their freedoms with the mean of armed resistance. This is reason why U.S.

... a one day luxury. So where is our fulfledged freedom? Corruption in social life: Communal disharmony, disputes on tiny issues, violence during ... has attained fulfledged freedom. The obtained freedom by the long blood shed struggle has been stained. So every Indian citizen has the responsibility ...

Constitution contains Second Amendment, which guarantees every citizen the right to keep and to bear arms. This is the most important of all civil rights, because it serves as foundation, upon which civil society is based. It also the reason why pushers of left-wing agenda try so hard to deprive Americans of their right to own guns, because citizens that are not capable of defending themselves can be more easily brainwashed. One of American founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson once said: The people who would choose security over freedom deserve neither (Jefferson).

After events of 9/11, many people, in Europe and America, have accepted the idea that they would have to surrender some of their constitutional freedoms, in order to be able to enjoy them in the long run. They could not possibly be more wrong.

Once they begin to think of social freedoms as burden, it automatically makes them unworthy of them. It is a common misconception to think of civil liberties, within a context of protecting the rights of minorities. The Civil Rights Movement is the best example of how the idea of civil freedoms has been misinterpreted, to make people think that, in order for them to be entitled with additional civil rights; they simply need to whine about injustices of the world loud enough. Civil freedoms are not being given they being are taken. The reasons why representatives of racial minorities are still sometimes being treated as second-class citizens, is that they never actively strived to gain their civil rights. Nowadays, many people confuse civil liberties with homosexuals being allowed to have sex with each other, while any attempt of normal citizens to criticize this as something unnatural, automatically constitutes crime. The hawks of political correctness managed to convince many citizens that the free expression of ideas, on their part, is nothing but hate crime. Thus, people are being slowly encouraged to think of their essential civil freedoms, as something that causes a lot of inconvenience.

... only in India but to all the countries of the world. People all over the world today, remember ... rich landlord and social reformer.Rabindranath become a citizen not only of India but of the world. ... week’ there. Tagore visited Russia with the idea of turning his personal property into some kind of ... thoughts gradually turned more and more universal. The idea of universal man slowly took shape in his ...

The next step is to convince citizens that they will be much better off if they allow government to decide on what benefits them the most. Once they are willing to do this, they will not be resisting when government changes its essence to dictatorship. This is why it is crucial for people to understand that protection of their civil liberties constitutes a foremost priority, on their part. In fact, the social value of civil rights is so great that people are often required to risk their lives, in order to make sure that citizens in other countries are able to enjoy them as well. According to official historiography, the reason why U.S. got involved in WW2 and sacrificed the lives of 400.000 soldiers is to rid Germany of dictatorship, so that ordinary Germans could live in democratic country.

Apparently, back then, the majority of Americans thought of it as something absolutely natural, because they never had a doubt as to whether civil rights and freedoms are worthy of waging war, when it comes to their protection. Nowadays, ordinary Americans are being told the opposite – civil liberties are dangerous, because the idea of individual being able to enjoy them to their fullest, contradicts the idea of tolerance. Still, U.S. Constitution does not operate with this term. Our ancestors could not care less of whether representatives of racial or sexual minorities were being offended or not, because of criticism directed at them. All that mattered to them was the fact that they lived in the free country, where they could fully realize their potential as individuals. Today, it became a journalistic cliche to say that after attacks of 9/11, America became a changed nation. Nevertheless, it is a valid suggestion America is not the country it used to be. In 2001, it declared war on single individual Osama bin Laden, who still remains at large and poses a great danger to this country, while during WW2, it only took America 3 years to defeat Germany, Italy and Japan.

... of exemption from control by a foreign power. Freedoms are things that people "EXTRACT" from their government; Liberty is less derivative, more ... " by the people to the people in common. The ability to assemble, for instance, while commonly thought of as a freedom, is really ...

The reason is very simple the more and more of our citizens think of their God given civil freedoms as something that they would not mind getting rid of, because in their mind, it would make their living more secure. Thus, it appears that Jeffersons prophesy is being slowly fulfilled. According to Patriot Act, just about anyone can be arrested as held in prison, simply because government suspects him of wrongdoing. The same policy was being practiced in Germany under Nazi rule. The onslaught on peoples civil freedoms in this country gains momentum and it is up to ordinary citizens to speak out against it, every time they have a chance.

Bibliography:

Pudles, Daniel The Real Price of Freedom.

2007. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas _jefferson.html Toner, Robin After the Attacks: Civil Liberties. 15 Sep. 2001. The New York Times. 16 Nov. 2007. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0 4E7D71F38F936A2575AC0A9679C8B63 Abstract: This paper discusses the essence of civil freedoms and provides readers with the insight on why it is important to protect these freedoms. Outline: Main part Pp.

1, 2. Conclusion p. 3..

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